Position Details

Careers Network

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £34,980 to £44,263 with potential progression once in post to £46,974

Grade: 7

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 4th April 2024

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Background

This role is located within Careers Network, which exists to help students and graduates realise the potential of their University of Birmingham experience and degree, helping them to positively shape the world around them, powering possibilities for themselves, and others, throughout their careers. The team comprises circa 60 staff, across several specialist areas, supporting employability, enterprise, and entrepreneurship within and beyond the curriculum, engaging with employers, alumni, and external partners to support this endeavour. Achieving the global ambitions of our university depends on our people. We are proud of our highly talented and engaged colleagues who are passionate about ensuring that students are at the heart of what we do.

Role Summary

With a focus on offering a positive experience to students and recent graduates, this post will be highly responsive to the diversity of employability needs across our student body and the way our students and recent graduates want to access careers support and interact with Careers Network.

This is both a student experience and project coordination role. The post holder will coordinate and deliver projects, shape and lead initiatives, develop and oversee the implementation of services in close collaboration with colleagues, to offer a positive and personalised experience for our diverse group of students and recent graduates. You will do this through project coordination of two key areas:

• Develop, refine and enhance Careers Network's employability advice and guidance services for our diverse student body, including face to face, hybrid and digital delivery of services. With the aim that every one of our students is aware of the support, is confident to engage, and can access the employability services they need.
• Project coordination of ‘UoB and Beyond’, our enhanced graduate support programme. The programme comprises a graduate calling campaign, intelligence gathering, bespoke targeted employability support, and digital services. Successful programme delivery requires exceptional partnership work with wider Careers Network, and the Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO). UoB and Beyond aims to ensure our finalists and recent graduates feel supported for a successful transition onto their next steps.

Main Duties

Advice and Guidance Services

• Develop a strong understanding of the student experience, and of student engagement with Careers Network’s services to inform the refinement and enhancement of Careers Network’s student facing advice and guidance activity, to ensure students are at the heart of what we deliver.
• Work collaboratively across Careers Network to develop, re-shape and implement the delivery of advice and guidance face to face, and online. Steer and coordinate the activities of a matrix-based Careers Network team.
• Develop and introduce initiatives that incorporate effective use of technology to enable efficient and student-centred service delivery in collaboration with Careers Network’s Digital Experience and Operations teams.
• Manage and coordinate the work of two Employability Advisers and their delivery programme. In addition, line manage the Diversity Project Officer, who is aligned to the our EDI strand of work.
• Develop robust processes for regular review of the effectiveness and quality of the student facing provision, implementing ongoing refinement and changes as required.
• Collaborate on relevant projects, service enhancements, training and development, and the creation of resources across Careers Network and beyond, to support a better student experience.

UoB and Beyond - enhanced Graduate Support Programme

• Develop a strong understanding of the experiences of finalists and recent graduates, and of their engagement with Careers Network’s services, to inform delivery of the UoB and Beyond graduate support programme, making sure finalists and recent graduates are at the heart of what we deliver.
• Work collaboratively across Careers Network to develop project plans for enhanced graduate support, coordinate a range of tailored interventions that are inclusive, promote diversity, and respond to variable stages of career readiness of graduates.
• Contribute to a compelling communication, information, and engagement strategy for finalists and recent graduates with the communication leads for Careers Network, Student Services and DARO.
• Recruit, train, supervise and project manage the graduate calling team, who deliver a large-scale calling campaign which focusses on delivering an engaging and excellent experience for our recent graduates.
• Manage the relationship with external providers who we partner with to deliver enhanced services, such as career coaching and alumni events.
• Analyse key data sources, including Careers Registration and Graduate Outcomes, using the results and findings to inform and shape operational plans and service delivery.
• Lead on the development of key performance indicators, identifying milestones, creating action plans, and appropriate evaluation of the impact of services and interventions, and regular reporting on developments within the UoB and Beyond workstream. Including implementing ongoing refinement and changes as required.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Qualified to Degree level, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Demonstrable understanding of graduate attraction, recruitment and selection processes.
• Demonstrable understanding of the student and graduate experience and current issues impacting on employability.
• Experience of leading the delivery of a high-quality service in a customer facing role, preferably in the Higher Education setting and proactively responding to diverse customer needs.
• Experience of collaborating effectively using a high level of relationship-building skills with a wide range of stakeholders, to build positive relationships and deliver positive outcomes.
• Experience of designing and delivering inclusive practices in relation to service delivery, and the ability to foster, champion, and drive equality and diversity in the student and graduate experience.
• Ability to assess and implement effective evaluation processes and to analyse and develop insights from data to inform developments.
• Experience of project coordination/management, the ability to create project implementation plans, and to set, monitor and meet targets.
• Excellent digital skills, including good knowledge of standard Microsoft Office software, and confident using custom systems, databases and digital application to support delivery.

Dimensions

The role will manage employability services for students and recent graduates, provide coordination of Careers Network’s student facing delivery and recent graduate service provision, and lead the implementation of specific aspects of the student and enhanced graduate support. The role involves some budget management and making decisions about staff resource and allocation of duties and management of a team consisting of two Employability Advisers and one Diversity Project Officer.

Planning and Organising

The role will undertake substantial collaborative planning and organisation to deliver high quality services to students and recent graduates. The role will coordinate projects related to service delivery. The post holder will need to forward plan, create project delivery plans, evaluate, and review progress, report to stakeholders. The role requires self-management and engagement with and management of others to ensure project outcomes are delivered.

Problem Solving and decision making

This role will be expected to devise and implement service delivery plans, consider and recommend improvements and enhancements to delivery plans by reviewing progress, assessing, and escalating risks. The focus of the role is on delivery of services and projects associated with student facing and recent graduate services. The role will operate within constraints set by the UoB and Beyond workstream and CN’s Senior Leadership Team. The role will take the day-to-day service and operational decisions and will support guidance teams in reaching informed decisions about College delivery.

Internal and External relationships

This is a key liaison and co-ordination role for recent graduate employability provision and advice and guidance services, and will have a range of internal and some external stakeholders:

• Internal staff members and teams within Careers Network
• Professional Services colleagues, specifically DARO, Registry, Strategic Planning, and Colleges
• External stakeholders such as service providers and external partners
• Others internal departments, such as HR, IT and Finance

Informal enquiries to Sophie Miller, email: s.a.miller@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website .